The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is set to tap a top executive at computer security giant McAfee, a unit of Intel, as the next official to head its cybersecurity division, several people familiar with the matter said.

Phyllis Schneck, currently a McAfee vice president and the company’s CTO for the public sector, will be picked as the next deputy undersecretary of cybersecurity at the department, which takes a leading role in protecting U.S. networks from foreign and domestic hackers.

A DHS official declined to comment. Reached by phone, Schneck also declined to comment.

On paper, Schneck is tasked with protecting American networks from cyber threats. In practice, she has to navigate a federal bureaucracy and power struggles that have prevented Washington from doing that. DHS meantime has to figure out how to implement Obama’s executive order this year on cybersecurity protections. It also helps pass on government data on specific cyber threats to Internet service providers. Read More »

With no small amount of fanfare, the Bloomberg administration outlined its plans to further entwine core city services with social media earlier this week. In the near future, thanks to new partnerships with some of the leading digital players, New Yorkers will be able to lodge service requests with 311 using Facebook and receive alerts from the city’s Twitter feed as text messages on their cellphones.

The ethos underlying the city’s 61-page report, “Road Map for the Digital City,” is one of openness and connection for the digital age. Rachel Sterne, the report’s author and the city’s first chief digital officer, states that technology can and should be used to break down barriers between city government and the public it serves. Read More »

If you want to see high technology’s potential to change the way people interact with their government, look no further than … Manor, Texas?

Manor, Texas

Manor’s City Hall building sports one of the town’s “QR code” signs.

Manor (MAY-ner; population 6,500), which is 12 miles east of downtown Austin, has turned civic participation into a sort of online game, complete with virtual currency. It uses barcode-like images that can be read by cellphone cameras to give residents everything from historical information to data on municipal projects. And it allows residents to report problems to its public works department by taking a photo with their phones.

Some of the technologies Manor is using are availableelsewhere. But Manor is unusual in employing all of these programs in a small city that has a limited budget and no history as a high-tech hotbed. The town has been getting more attention lately for its efforts and generated some buzz at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin. Read More »